


Cat Scratches

by Kitsoa



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: F/M, This is a remarkably fun pairing, and fluff, and trauma, mainly due to character involvement and details about Irene, spoilers for chapter 42 and beyond, that being said actual time setting is purely contrived, there's blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 11:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11379690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsoa/pseuds/Kitsoa
Summary: A blackout doesn't go as planned.





	Cat Scratches

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t ask when this takes place. It’s after the reunion naturally but I didn’t want to write Takayama’s misfit flock. Meanwhile, the newer additions after them are too fresh for me to write and the plot kicked into high gear.

“ **Griff. Kamoda. Take it from above, first strike. Takayama, hold it steady. Umino, prepare for the follow up."**

 Eishi narrowed his eyes at the emerging beast, massive claws poking out of the blackhole in the sky as though prying itself out of a manhole. The flock got into position, gratefully in lower altitude somewhere in northern India. Sagisawa flanked the Bellwether’s left as usual, while their maverick fighters climbed the air.

 “ **Wait for my signal, it hasn’t emerged enough to take damage. I expect your sharpest Griff**.”

 Their newest member let the sadistic fire in her eyes physicalize with a curl of her claws. “ _Naturally_.” She purred before turning to Kamoda beside her in a heavy flapping gait.

 “ _Like I said before, I don’t get dizzy very easy so just go crazy, okay?"_

 Kamoda barked a laugh, eyes shining with an anticipatory smile. “ _Roger!_ ”

 “ **Okay…** ” Eishi warned watching the creature’s maw of teeth snap the air. There was fur, dripping in that viscous blackout liquid as usual. Along the creature’s face lay draped the pitch black feathers of the telltale wings, they arced along the body, rooted beyond the perception of its portal. Its animal-like legs drooped awkwardly to gravity-- Eishi easily ruled out the potential owners.

  _Umino’s?_ Hers were the most beastly, but realistic proportions were not common traits for her stuffed animal themes…

 The blackout refused to let Eishi conclude, wings unfurling suddenly even as the hindlegs pooled gradually.

 “ **GO!”**

 In that instant the creature roared, shaking the atmosphere with an overtone mixture of shrill screeching and unholy grumbling. Takayama swooped in with sword-like arms piercing and pulling back the beast by the neck… or was it scruff? Meanwhile the duo of green engaged in what could only be described as a clumsy dance. Irene’s wings gleamed dangerously, stiff and immobile with the sharp blades of her Black Armor. Kamoda had her by the hands, using his weight alongside gravity to increase her speed. They dropped gradually like a spinning top, a black buzzsaw to any adversary.

 Eishi’s eyes widened. A damn impressive move, sure to cut cleanly and one-shotting the beast.

 “ _Alrighty!_ ” Kamoda sung along the channel, clearly excited to land this move. He lurched his falling position forward, hurling the small girl over his head while taunting; “ _Cat-fight!_ ”

 It happened extremely fast.

 Irene’s red eyes locked onto the target and widened with horror.

 Her aerodynamic bullet form crumbled into a flurried kick to the air, her body twisted fitfully against the intense g-forces of her descent, suddenly at the unwilling mercy of her own attack. She let out guttural scream as Kamoda pushed her through the corner of their cycle, slashing forward at him, she tried for some stabilizing constitution. Failing, her claws viciously raked along Kamoda’s right arm and she dropped towards the blackout at 60 mph.

 Kamoda howled, his own blood splashed across his face, causing him to blindly careen to the ground. Speeding by, Irene made contact with the beast’s flesh before he could even reflexively grab at his wound. Prepared, Takayama jumped off the creature as Irene’s wings sliced through like a hot knife to butter.

 “K-kamoda!” Eishi screamed in alarm, unsure in that moment which name to speak. Just when Irene cleared the beast, her form limped toward the earth in a similar fashion to his old friend, face up, in stark witness to her carnage.

The blackout, a fierce winged black panther, made one final roar in the echo of the clean gash, gaping from head to tail. It exploded in a flurry of globbing black liquid, the substance a viscous blood that peppered the falling girl before dissolving into nothing.

 There erupted an earsplitting scream.

 “ **Takayama, Umino! Get Kamoda!** ”

 Eishi dived toward Irene with Sagisawa not far behind. They reach her with altitude to spare, her transformation crumbling in spirals of distress. She wasn’t kicking like Sagisawa had been during his episode but her hands clawed at her face in a chilling resignation. Eishi intercepted her fall with a sharply prepped arm and stroked the air with heavy flaps as they landed.

 They sat her down on forest earth, silently grateful her failed transformation maintained her propriety, but buzzing with concern.

 “Griff!” Eishi called. Sagisawa’s eyes glowed red with a cautious sense of observation. “Griff!”

 Uncomfortably helpless, Eishi clenched her shoulder.

 She jolted into motion, throwing his hands off her and rolling to her knees. Irene scrambled to her feet before storming deeper into the woods, a trail of her shapeless wings like a tattered cloak. Eishi started after her when Sagisawa stops him, eyes piercing forward.

 “She embarrassed. Give her space.”

 “Embarrassed?” Eishi huffed, stress spiking his confusion. “You know better than any of us that we could care less about appearances.”

 “It’s not about us.”

 Sagisawa’s eyes don’t leave the direction she came from. His intensity stern and personal, pacified Eishi’s crisis management in a strange reversal of roles. He recognized the jerking anger in her motions and the instinct to run.

 “There’s a water source nearby, she’ll be downstream most likely.” Eishi said after a brief silence.

 “What gives you that idea?” Sagisawa hummed in a way that diffused the tension.

 Eishi hummed back, fixing his stare far away. “Some people like to look themselves in the eye when they tell themselves to be strong.”

 

* * *

 

Eishi and Sagisawa approached Kamoda’s landing site with a quickened pace. The bald birdman cradled his limp arm by the shoulder, blood dripping off his fingers into pools of red. Takayama stared a distance away like some impartial observer, arms crossed and evaluating (a detail that just felt so frustratingly different to Eishi that he blocked the enigma from his perception). Umino fluttered around her friend but darted to her bellwether at first sight.

 “Is Irene-chan alright?”

 “She’ll be fine.” Sagisawa answered in his stead. “We’re just giving her some space, the question here is if Kamoda is okay?”

 “I’m fine.” He grunted through his teeth. His gaze is intense and focused like he’s holding back.

 “Go ahead and Steal Kamoda, we’re taking a break anyway.” Eishi supplied flatly.

 Kamoda visibly relaxed and a sudden stark heaviness fell upon the limbs and wings of the surrounding party. Steam rolled off his arm. “Thanks,” he breathed.

 “Wow, that wound’s not going away very fast…” Sagisawa mused. Sure enough the ribbons on his arm, impressively deep and gushing, knitted together with an aching lethargy.

 “Stings.” He added curtly on choked breath. “ Kind of… like a… cat scratch.” Leave it to Kamoda to crack a smile in personal agony.

 Eishi narrowed his eyes at that observation. “That’s potentially a feature exclusive to birdmen, perhaps we’re weak against attacks from our own kind.”

 The revelation brought a frightening hypothetical to Eishi’s subconscious.

 “Irene-chan... didn’t mean to.”

 “Of course!” Umino agreed. “I wonder what happened…?”

 “I think I have an idea…” Kamoda flexed his fingers as his muscles mended together.

 “The blackout was a panther…” Sagisawa mused. “Definitely hers… it makes you wonder the exact nuance to her trauma…”

 Umino nodded, worry and imposed fatigue lining her mouth. “That was a really strong move though… how long had you two been planning that?”

 Kamoda furrowed his brow in lieu of answering. With a grunt he rose to his feet.

 “I’m going after her.”

 “But you’re still healing--!”

 “--I’ll be fine.”

 Eishi took note of his friends burning eyes and curt voice-- rarely did he witness this passion and gravity. “She’s about 5 minutes downstream.” He called back, the Life-Stealer leaving a trail of his steaming wound in his wake.

* * *

 

Kamoda found her curled into a ball by the stream, eyes trained on the shimmering surface of the water. He sighed, suppressing a hiss of pain from his still healing arm and walking toward the current, upstream of her. His tactic was simple, taken from many experiences approaching skittish strays along alleys. Start out as indirect as possible, let the cat know you're  there, but not imminent.

 He danced his left claws through the bubbling water, cupping it and then shoveling a wave toward his body. The blood hardening across his chest found an escape that he aided in the mindless scrubbing of his claws. Kamoda let the gentle sound make his presence clear without even peeking at her reaction. Keep her comfortable and in control. It was all about respect really.

 At about the third bathing scoop of water he accidently splashed the liquid into his still stitching wound. He couldn’t hold back the hiss.

 Her sympathetic grunt was a phantom under his. He met her sharp eyes, her positioning angled at him with interest. Talk about success. He smirked, bemused yet again at her perfect likeness to cats.

 “I’m okay.” He offered. His confidence was subdued, sobered by the tensions of pain and stress coercing through him.

 She didn’t respond verbally, but shrank back in obvious shame. It was remarkable how she behaved without her defensive walls.

 “Though, you could help me speed this up if you’ll allow a little life-stealing.” He tested. Careful with his words. This was the moment when he offered the saucer of milk.

 With a pointed look at his steaming wound, she pushed herself away ever so slightly. “Sure.”

 Her voice was a gruff and clipped as she always projected. Acting tough even now. Slowly, Kamoda rose to his feet and inched closer as casually as he could manage. Set in a decided stubbornness she didn’t move. Her wings only bristled, hackles raised in reflexive warning. He reached a hand out toward her. Closing the distance to her small form with an olive branch.

 And the allegory vanished with her scandalized expression, eyebrow comically cocked.

 “Are you trying to _pet_ me?”

 Kamoda spluttered, caught off guard. “N-No.” He gave a nervous laugh ( _was_ he trying to pet her?). “My ability works best with physical contact, that’s all.”

 “Oh...” She said flatly, not really buying it. Her gaze danced over him once more before she relented her defensive curl and looked away. “Just take what you need. God knows I owe you.”

 He clapped his hand on her shoulder at the moments invitation. Her energy rushed in with his eager pull and he felt the wound’s stitching speed up.

 “Thank you.” He hummed, the healing sensation finding a comfortable warmth.

 Irene gave a self deprecating huff. “It’s my fault. Hell, it’s my fault you have that ability.”

“Ei-chan thinks I would have gotten Life-Stealer regardless of the situation. I was becoming ‘accident prone’-- he said.”

 She barked suddenly at his levity. “A big guy like you?-- Hard to believe you’re anything but graceful.”

 Kamoda deflated at the mention of his stature. “ _Heh…_ That’s me, _predictable_.”

 “Oh _hey_ ,” Backtracking, Irene put up a defensive hand. “If we didn’t live up to our appearance at least a little bit, I think people would have a hard time relying on us don’t you think?”

 “Huh?”

 "Yeah, you have to... sell it a little… but then save your best for _only_ the best.” She gave him meaningful look before sharply returning to the rippling water as if her kindness betrayed herself.

 “Who’d of thought a cat could be so wise?” Kamoda’s tone danced a little wistfully, his admiration shining through.

 “This _cat_ happens to be older than you-- more life experience.” The number of years spent rotting in a lab curled her smug smile downward. ”Ah, who am I to talk? Don’t listen to me... I’ve spent most of my life wanting to pluck the wings right off of your kind only to sprout some myself…” She huffed, a twinge of anger curling her talons.

 “I’m just a hypocrite…”

Kamoda gave a pause, his mouth a small line as he evaluated the girl. The way her eyes glaze over with a contemplative resignation, a deep sadness ingrained in the neutral rest of her brow… she even balled herself up tighter like him. “You’re a lot like Ei-chan.”

 Irene reeled back. “Karasuma? Why would you think that?”

 “He… doesn’t like himself." There was a regretful pause at that admission. "He seems to think that just because he has bad thoughts and does things differently, that it somehow makes him a bad guy… but…” Kamoda laughed with a ghosting smile on his lips so incredibly fond. “... I’m sure neither of us have seen anything that paints him as a ‘bad guy’.”

 “...I stabbed you, Kamoda.”

 “Eichan made me think I was an accomplice to suicide!”

 “That's--! Ah… really?”

 “Yup. But somehow we’re friends… just like us...” Kamoda smiled hopefully twinging his final phrase a little like a question.

 “Friends…” Irene tasted the word with a sobering bittersweetness. She suddenly seemed lost in the past.

 “I really only had one friend…” She began, pulling her knees up to her chest as she fiddled her claw into the dirt.

 “At the lab… I wasn’t allowed outside… while they put me through the Treatments. Understanding the importance of collaboration from the Seraph project, the scientist paired me up early on with a genetically enhance panther cub… I raised him… I named him.” She gave a fond smile at the memory.

 “Bolt listened to me… we helped each other out… We started doing missions together when I became an agent… we were an amazing team… unstoppable…”

Irene took a sharp breath, lost in this confession that seemed to slip so easily from her to him.

 “But then… I… pushed him too hard… I… let my… fear of being discarded by Eden get in the way…”

 Irene’s eyes were shimmering with hot tears. Voice cracking between fruitless exhales. Her face was red with an  insurmountable pressure upon her lips that she attempted to stifle behind her hand.

 “ _I_ _killed my only friend.”_ She whispered into her palm. A sob wracking through her shoulders, she only clenched herself tighter in some self inflicted punishment.

 “A-And then I did it again...”

 Unable to resist the waves of emotions billowing off of the girl, Kamoda pulled her into a tight hug. Strong arm encircling, she succumbed to the mercy of her weaknesses letting out a whimper while he stood a rock to her storm. He was a flood of pressure with an endless stream of soothing care and concern, washing over her like an ever present current. This hulking seraph she plunged a knife into once upon a time, comforting her. What kind of topsy turvy world did she live in for this to happen? What kind of person could be so kind?

 Kamoda rested his chin on her soft head, the tufts of delicate white tickling his cheek. Heart aching for her pain, he remembered how her world shattered enough to push her over the edge. Bloody tears wrecked with guilt and anguish born from a subhuman life. He brushed a small circle into her shoulder, wings instinctively working around her compact ball. He knew there was nothing he could say.

She pushed herself deeper into his hug, tiny in his arms and selfish in her indulging…

 

* * *

 

 “We should get back to the others, they probably want to hit the sky.” Kamoda rose with a prolonged stretch, the midday sky having traveled a small distance through the shimmering canopy.

 “Wait up.” She grabbed at his flexing wing as he turned back the way they came. “Before that… let’s be clear: this... never happened.” Irene’s voice had returned to it’s usual vibrato. A slicing alto drenched in a confident lilt.

 “Ok…” Kamoda looked around self consciously. She then shook her head in faux exasperation.

 “And second off: you did a terrible job cleaning the blood off, get over here.”

 Kamoda laughed as Irene wet her hand in the water, brushing off the crusting red upon his cheeks. He couldn’t help the blush on his cheeks.

 “It’s a good thing you’re bald because I can’t stand dirty hair.” Irene clicked.

 A skewer to his heart. “... _Bald…_ ”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kamoda is too good for this world. Capturing that kindness while putting a cap on his wit and savvy was an interesting challenge. Irene herself is a bold personality and I have my fears about cracking her open like I did but she's really deep. They just have the perfect set up for a painfully adorable relationship...


End file.
